


Don't Cry Over Spilt Ink!

by PresAlex



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [2]
Category: Septimus Heap - Angie Sage
Genre: Bad Things Happen Bingo, Fluff, Fluffy with feelings, Forgetting to eat, Gen, Hyperfocus, its not necessarily in this but its important to know that every beetle i write is trans, theyre adults in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-17
Updated: 2019-02-17
Packaged: 2019-10-30 13:11:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17829188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PresAlex/pseuds/PresAlex
Summary: Beetle has a tendency to overwork himself. Thankfully he has people to help him!





	Don't Cry Over Spilt Ink!

**Author's Note:**

> Content warning forgetting to eat  
> Im back out here giving adhd qualities to every character i write

There was so much work to do. 

Beetle loved his job at the Manuscriptorium, of course, he did, but sometimes, cleaning up after his new scribes was just too much. On top of his regular workload, Two of the youngest scribes had gotten into a fistfight in the rows and had knocked an entire well of ink on top of the document that was in the process of being copied. Said document just so happened to be an important scroll that Septimus needed before the end of the day. He didn’t blame the kids, but the scroll was long and had been in the process of being studiously copied for the better part of a week when it was ruined. 

The thought of explaining the situation to Sep and asking for a few extra days to complete the task past his mind fleetingly before he shrugged it off. He’d promised the scroll by today, and he wasn’t going to go back on his word just because he was too lazy to sit down and get to work. Not for the first time he wished he had  **_Magyk_ ** so that he might be able to just clean the ink off of the paper. 

He sat down at his desk and began to work. 

Beetle had arrived early at work that morning to prepare for the day. So early that he was able to watch the sunrise from the front door, which he had propped open to allow some fresh air the dusty building. The chill from the snow helped to wake him up a bit. Once the scribes had begun filtering into the building he had become more preoccupied than usual, making him glad that he had put in the extra effort that morning. Not that it meant anything now that the sun was leaving the sky and Beetle was just as–if not  _ more– _ busy as he was when the Manuscriptorium was filled by the sound of fountain pens scratching over parchment and the growling from the forbidden section.

Working past the loud silence of his closed office, he forced his hands to keep moving over the page. His brain felt a bit foggy, but he wasn’t sure if that was due to how tired he was, how focused he was, or something else, but he shrugged his shoulders, rolled his wrists and kept working. He was trying to write as fast as possible whilst also trying not to make any mistakes or smudge the writing. He had to get this finished.

As the room got darker around him, the little amount of light filtering through the papers glued to the window dimming until he could no longer see the scroll in front of him, he rose to light the candles on his office walls. The scuff of the match he was lighting was accompanied by a knock at the front door of the manuscriptorium. Panicked, he whirled around to look back at the unfinished manuscript, the match in his fingers flickering out. The movement made his head swim and he placed his hand against the wall to steady himself. He felt much more tired than he usually does when he stayed this late. Making a mental note to seriously take into consideration Jenna’s chiding about taking a break, he slowly made his way to the front door to unlock it. The main room in the manuscriptorium had gone nearly pitch black as nighttime fell and he was suddenly grateful that he had the muscle memory to make his way to the door through the desks without any light.

In the open doorway stood both the ExtraOrdinary Wizard and the Castle Queen. Septimus he had been expecting but not Jenna. A few people walking down Wizard Way stopped to stare in confusion. It must look as though they were having some sort of important meeting and not as though Beetle was about to now disappoint  _ two _ of his best friends. Glancing from one sibling to the other he sighed and stood aside to allow them to enter.

“Oi, Beet are you okay?” Sep asked before promptly walking into the desk closest to the door. Beetle covered his mouth so he wouldn’t laugh and scurried back to his office to grab the box of matches. In the other room, Septimus called after him and then overcorrected, walking into another desk opposite the one he’d already tripped over.

“It’s really a wonder that you’re the EOW, Sep. You’re wearing your ring, aren’t you? Take off your gloves.”

“Oh. Right.”

When Beetle hurried back into the room with the matches the room was cast in a dull gold glow from Sep’s hand.

“Are you alright, Beetle? We were standing outside for a bit before you opened the door.” Jenna asked trying to press her hand against Beetle’s forehead. The hem of her cloak hung dangerously close to the flame in Beetle’s hand as he tried to light a candle, causing him to swerve away and extinguish the match again.

“Sorry, I didn’t hear the door. Didn’t know you were coming either, Jen.”

“I hadn’t heard from you in a while so when I heard that Sep was coming over tonight I invited myself along.”

“Speaking of my reason for being here, About the scroll–” Septimus said, walking over to where the two of them were and taking the box of matches from Beetle. He plucked the candle from its holder on the wall and lit it for him. He handed the lit candle over to Beetle as he spoke.

“Yes. The scroll,” Beetle interrupted, trying to stall, “I have that in my office right now.”

“Perfect! Now, if you’re not too busy–”

Trying and failing to be subtle, Beetle tilted the candle slightly and spilled a bit of wax onto his wrist as though by accident. Jenna and Sep lurched forward with their hands out in shock, Septimus quickly taking the candle back.

“Ouch. My hand got burnt by the wax! I have to go take care of this. I can give you the scroll for tomorrow for sure, but my hand–I’ve got to take care of this.”

“Beetle, what the  _ hell was that? _ ” Septimus exclaimed. He looked from the candle in Septimus’ hands to the shocked confusion painted across Jenna’s face.

“Uh.”

“Septimus was  _ about to say _ that we’d run into one of your scribes on the way here, you numbskull.” Jenna chided him as she pried the wax off of his wrist, “He was apologizing all over himself saying he’d spilt ink all over ‘that special document that the EOW had “specially ‘equested”,” Jenna told him, doing bunny ears with her hands when she quoted the scribe.

“Said he knew we were heading over to meet you to get that “very important scroll” and not to be mad,” Septimus added placing the candle snuggly back into its holder on the wall, “Beetle, you know that I don’t  _ need _ the scroll tonight? You could have just told me something had happened.”

“How long have you been here? You look pale, Beet”

“I’m fine. I’ve just been here for since early this morning. I’m just tired and my head is hurting a bit.”

“Did you get enough sleep last night?”

“I mean, no. But I got the same amount of sleep that I usually do.”

“We can...deal with that later I guess. Were you working for too long in the dark?

“The sun pretty much just set. I don’t  _ think _ it was that, but who knows.”

“When was the last time you ate?”

“Uhm I think I had lunch?”

“Okay, good start. When was that?”

“It was– Wait. I had lunch...yesterday.”

“Okay less good.” Jenna pulled him by the shoulder towards a desk, pushing him down so that he could perch on the edge of it, “How long ago was breakfast?”

He thought back to the morning and his silence seemed answer enough for both of them.

“Beetle!” They both exclaimed gently. Jenna immediately pulled him back up even though he had just sat down and tugged him in the direction of the door.

“Sep blow out the candles. Beetle’s having dinner with the Heaps tonight.”

“What? No, I still have to finish the scroll.”  
“Beetle, I literally just said that you didn’t have to do that. For someone who’s always getting on my case about not taking care of myself, you sure don’t seem to do any of that yourself.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on twitter @cryke_art


End file.
